


Too Close

by madamecrimson



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series), Watcher Entertainment (Web Series)
Genre: Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:40:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23211904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madamecrimson/pseuds/madamecrimson
Summary: "You're my friend."Shane had repeated that phrase so many times during the previous season of "Unsolved" that Ryan could pull it from his memory at will. Not only the words but the cadence, the tone, the look in his eyes. Ryan couldn't tell if it was a dismissal of their growing closeness, or a reassurance of Shane's commitment to the creation of Watcher Entertainment. And that fed into his greatest fear.The unknown.That's part of how Ryan had come up with the idea for "Unsolved" in the first place. He did believe in the supernatural, things that couldn't be readily explained; but whispers in the night are far more terrifying when they can't be identified. If he could just bring one into the light, dampen the mystery, maybe he wouldn't be so afraid.Spoilers for Buzzfeed: Unsolved - Edgar Allen Poe Q&A
Relationships: Ryan Bergara/Shane Madej
Comments: 6
Kudos: 60





	Too Close

Ryan had originally approached Brent, one of his best friends, to co-host "Unsolved" with him. Brent had agreed, but after awhile, as the show grew in popularity, Brent found the time commitment conflicted too much with his other work, and he wasn't really into crime investigation. 

While Ryan was thankful to have Shane step up to fill the role of co-host, he hadn't expected for the show to become even bigger. Of course that meant more time, more work, more of everything. And Shane had stuck around. And even when Shane decided to venture out into creating his own show, "Ruining History," he still kept working on "Unsolved" with Ryan. Not only that, but Shane brought on Ryan as a permanent guest on his show. 

Ryan and Shane really got to know each other, probably more closely than Ryan had ever known anyone else in his entire life apart from his girlfriends. Shane had seen Ryan at his most frightened, screaming and crying in the dark. Ryan had seen Shane at his most vulnerable, doubting himself as he questioned whether or not "Ruining History" would be successful, entertaining. They'd shared beds, secrets, clothes, meals...everything in their lives became very intertwined. 

When Steven Lim had pitched the idea for a new company, Ryan and Shane readily jumped on board. It would prove to be quite the undertaking, requiring every last shred of dedication that each of them had. The process had not been an easy one. They were all venturing out on their own, having to make decisions for themselves about things they had never even considered before. But the opportunity to be able to independently put all their ideas into projects they were truly passionate about was too hard to pass up, and their hard work paid off. That being said, it had stripped them raw, as if their souls had been laid bare for the other to see. Ryan knew that at that point, Shane and he had become inextricably linked. 

However, what Ryan didn't know, is when the line between friendship and something decidedly more began to blur, regardless of how much they tried to avoid that truth by hiding behind throwing comedic bits at one another and the other readily joining in. It was a line they never crossed, but soon it too was beginning to fade into the darkness. It was morphing into something terrifying, because what Ryan could so easily identify before was now becoming nothing more than a whisper.

_"I mean to be fair I don't hang out with a lot of people outside of work," Shane defended on an episode of Watcher Weekly._

_"You hang out with me," Ryan pointed out._

_"When's the last time we hung out outside of work?" Shane asked back._

_~~"You're~~ my friend."_

_"Bring it in here, bring it in here Blueberry Boy, let's go," Ryan said, arms stretched out toward Steven where he sat on the Watcher Weekly couch. Slightly confused by Ryan's sudden action, Steven returned the hug just the same._

_"You just watch him," Steven remarked to Shane as Ryan pulled back._

_Ryan repeated that phrase with a laugh and Shane's gaze fell to his phone._

_"I'm not going to partake--" Shane began in a futile effort to appear nonchalant about the whole thing._

_"You too," Ryan interrupted, getting up to hug Shane._

_"Alright, okay, alright, there you go," Shane relented, an awkward strain to his voice as Ryan's arms encircled him and he draped on arm around Ryan._

_~~"You're my~~ friend."_

_"Ryan, do you really like Shane or is it all an act?" Ryan read aloud the fan question from his cellphone on their first Post Mortem episode since last season._

_"Ryan and I are not actually friends. Certainly we're very--" Shane looked over at Ryan, taking in his fallen expression and breaking out into a chuckle._

_"Well I mean, you know, outside of the show we actually don't speak to each other. As soon as they say "cut" we sort of go our separate ways--" Shane continued before Ryan cut him off._

_"How dare you," Ryan interrupted lowly._.

_"Well it's a lot--What, to to let them in on this?" Shane asked._

_"It's a lot like the Mythbusters. You know, those weirdos." Shane went on earning a soft laugh from Ryan. "You know, we're happy to work together, we're certainly colleagues._

_Well also we spend more time with each other probably than any other human," Ryan amended as he looked over at Shane. "When you combine all the hours in the office and the time that we're shooting--"_

_"Yeah," Shane agreed, his voice raising slightly higher in pitch._

_"Now, especially. T-to uh, t-to see him at home as well?" Ryan asked incredulously._

_~~"You're my friend."~~ _

Ryan could no longer hear those words in his head.  


(Just a short little video semi-based around this fic:)  


Password: bosom  
Fandom: Buzzfeed: Unsolved, Watcher Entertainment  
Pairing(s): Ryan/Shane  
Artist: Ria Mae, Dan Talevski  
Song: Too Close


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